Achieving Goals – One Whiskey At A Time

Week One 07/03/15 – Sullivan’s Cove American Oak

After shaping our goal and the milestones necessary to track progress for achieving the coveted Eagle Rare 17, we set out on Friday, Independence Day Eve to our special local liquor store. Sure, we’d been there before, but not with our eyes set on a prize. We drove together and went over the plan once more in the car.

Walking in we see that the whiskey guy, (let’s call him Steve), is there. He is the one who stocks all their whiskeys and orders items for their impressive selection. We flag him down and I watch my “confidence” kick in. I start by saying, “[Steve], we are hoping to buy more whiskey here”.

He then proceeds to point out some “Mid Shelf” bottles to us. I can’t tell you what they are but I can tell you the highest price tag was $45. When I had a moment to speak, I smoothly comment: “[Steve], to be honest, we are looking to support your establishment a little more than that”. ( I thought to myself, was that too forward? Was I being rude?) Before I can think one more thought he immediately says, “I know what you mean” and walks to the back room. He doesn’t even look back.

He comes out a few moments later with a box. A black box with a black labeled bottle inside. At this point, we’re trying to keep in our excitement with the fact that, on our first visit we achieved “Back Room” status. The bottle was Sullivan’s Cove American Oak. He tells us that the distillery in Tasmania is stopping distributing to the US and they are coming to be rarer and rarer. After discussing the bottle a little more, I say, “We’ll take it”.

We talk a little about what other whiskeys they have and before we get to the counter [Steve] stops and leans in. “I got a Sazerac shipment coming in with some hard to find bottles. If you guys are interested, I can let you know”. We’re trying not to let our guard down so we agree politely.

The purchase was $217 and after talking with [Steve] a little more he asked for our numbers. That’s right, our numbers! He tells us about their text list for rare and searched after bottles that come through. We calmly write down our numbers and tell him we’d love to hear about what comes through. We shake his hand and tell him our names one more time and walk out.

Once we get out of sight, we unleash our excitement a little. Let’s just say we made some excellent strides. First visit and we got the “Back Room” whiskey, we got the “lean-in” inside information, and we got our numbers taken down for the text list. For week one we did pretty well.